King Sejong Story

Didi you know there is a musuem hidden under the King Sejong statue on Gwanghwamun plaza? It's a little exhibition to illustrate the creation of the Korean hangeul alphabet and some other inventions of King Sejong.

At the end of the exhibition, there is a wall pasted with little block on which children drew about their dream. Close-up on two funny ones :)

The one on the right hand side is a little girl who dream to become a doctor.

Although the drawing of the guy lifting his shirt seems a bit pervy.

And I just can't figure out what is about the one on the left...

This musuem also connects to another part which is about the life of Admiral Yi Sun-Shin who has his statue on the other end of the plaza. You can find out more on Visit Korea website here. Both exhibitions are free.

Seoul by night

Travelled four times to Korea, this is my first time up Namsan. I never wanted to go because it's such a tourist place. I've been tricked by a  friend who convinced me to drag myself up the hill in the summer heat... Actually, it was okay, not that many tourists as it was already late at night. There were more Koreans who were there to take a walk. The night sky was specially clear so it was worth the hike after all.

Korea - Random 4

Cute things I've found here and there in Seoul.

 

The little bell sign is the symbol of the center district of Seoul

Some serious kicking

 While waiting for a friend , I found out there was more to the giant interactive information board in subway stations. Besides the basic maps and weather info, there are also tabs if you need to know how is your luck today. It's all complete with the Chinese zodiacs, astrological signs and even the fortune cookie. So, are you superstitious?

Seoul center

Just some pics around Jonggak area.

Beesket

While roaming around Jonggak, I saw this juice shop and went in. It happened to be their opening day in fact. It's a new concept where they propose a very large selection of ingredients for you to choose and compose your own mix in three different kind: smoothie, yogurt or ade. The ingredients are represented on little hexagonal capsules you pick and put in the beesket which is then scanned at the cashier.

The concept is based on the natural ingredients and the fun in picking and creating your own drink but it doesn't come cheap. I paid 6700W for a pumpkin/ carrot/ orange smoothie but I got a free mug as a special opening day gift.

You can find out more about Beesket here. They even have the whole list of ingredients, each with a spectacularly detailed chart of its properties (calories, composition, vitamins, etc...).

Korea - Random 3

The Gangnam area is full of clinics for plastic surgery. It starts from inside the subway station where there are all the advertising with "before/ after" pictures of surgery services they propose. I think this one was the best with its name "Cinderella". But I thought Cinderella was just about getting the right shoe?

Seoul - Sinsa

Garosugil, on the south side of the Han river, is known for its trendy shops, cafés and restaurants. I was there before noon so it was not still very quiet. As I stroll along the road, I noticed how the interior design here, in Korea, is always well done. In this trendy area, for sure, the shops and restaurants have the budget. But even in less expensive area, shops, and particularly cafés, manage to create a special mood for their interior. You can see that the design concept has included every detail. From the colors, materials, packaging till the font used on the receipt. I think that this reflects a trait of the Koreans. Things are never half done, every detail has to be well done.

For lunch, I chose this Japanese soba shop called Obiya. Their specialty is green tea soba. You can order with the soba a side of tempura. They serve chilled green tea and they fried the soba as chips. You get some salt mixed with green tea to dip the tempura.

Korea - Random 2

A car ferris wheel!! Little scooter is not tall enough to get on it so it had to wait

on the side :)

Korea - Random 1

 Guess where are these cute figures in front of?

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Answer is the police station. They don't have these in front of every station. This one was near Gwanghwamun.

Food and drink

Seoul is packed with coffee shops. At some area, you might have in every two shops. It makes me wonder how they survive with all the competition... and how you're supposed to know which one is good or not. As I don't drink coffee, I need a coffee house just to sit and get the aircon. So how do I choose? My most important criteria is... free WiFi!

I chose Miru as it was calm with only two persons inside because it is on a quieter street behind the main Ewha's shopping area. I ordered an iced yuzu tea, so refreshing.

After the geekette's pause, I walked around Hongdae, shopped some and then stumble on a street concert. The only I hate when traveling alone is dinner. Especially in Korea where lots of meals (like barbecue) can't be ordered unless you're two. So it's also a challenge to find a place where I can eat by myself which is not some franchised fast food chain store or the basic sandwich. And apart from the places for bbq and other group meal restaurants, the small ones close early around ten. This Saitamaya ramen shop was the best I could find for the night.

 Crispy kolokke

Grilled cha siu rice served with their miso soup

They also have rice and not just noodles. I'm gluten free happy :)

Green Seoul - Hangang park Seonyudo

Next stop was Seonyudo. The Chinese characters 仙遊島 means the island where the fairies travel.

It's a little spot of land in the middle of the Han river. It's like L'île Saint Louis in Paris but instead of the Berthelot ice creams and the luxury apartments, here, they left it all green.

The center of the park has different sections created for walks

and children playing area

There's just a small snack and coffee shop so this was lunch.

Green Seoul part 1 - Hangang park Yeouido

Seoul has a lot of parks and greens. Hangang park is a serie of parks along the Han river dedicated to leisure and sports for the citizen. I've come to the ones of Yeouido and Seonyodo.

It rained a bit in the morning but it has refreshed the air for just about an hour. The sky was all fuzzy so the pictures didn't come out great :( The area of Yeouido has a marina for tour boats and leisure. There are bike rentals in every park. I did not take the bike because it's not possible to leave it after at a different station. I originally planned to ride the bike from Yeouido to Seonyudo.

Families, couples or just alone, everyone comes to enjoy the open space. Some bike, some play, some sit, some sleep and some come with the 6 persons tent! I don't know if they invested in the tent only to come at the park for the day?

 

 

And I took this picture because the grass has been mowed like a mess. I guess the guy doesn't really like his job?

National Museum of Korea

The National Museum of Korea has a free permanent collection that consists of mainly items related to the history of Korea. On the main floor, the visit begins from the prehistoric fossils and moves along the timeline of Korean history illustrating each different era. On the second floor, one half of the floor concentrates on paintings and caligraphy. The other half is dedicated to collections donated from some famous people (I guess... as I don't know them). On the third floor, there are halls with some artifacts from other major Asian cultures and more specific halls of sculptures and crafts.

Even though the museum is free and so there were lots of people with children, it was not unbearable. But I did walk a lot. All the people usually stays on the main floor and the place where it were the most crowded was the cafeteria. Indeed, we're in Asia. Food comes before anything in our culture :)

 Main entrance and the central alley

 Ancient tiles. The oldest one (left bottom) is from 300 BC.

There is an entire section dedicated to the art related to Buddha. Lots of sulptures, bronze arts and paintings.

 Sculpted Buddhas

Sometimes when you see these huge stones brought in museums, it feels not right for them to have move these treasures. But then, selfishly, I also think "wow, that's cool to get to see

them in air conditioned comfort". Because chances are to get to see these kinds of things, one would have to climb high in the mountain.

Pensive Bodhisattvas. Left side is the national treasure n°78.

 

Painted hanging scroll of 995cm high.

And to finish, some ceramics.

 Water droppers : dragon, frog shaped, peach shaped and unicorn lion shaped.

 Jars: very simple almost modern to the pomegranate shaped

Vases: painted rope design (also a national treasure), painted flowers,

flattened sculptured.

You can get all the info about the museum on their website here.

Changgyeonggung

Changgyeonggung (yeah, there's a whole bunch of g's in this name :) ) is smaller therefore less know palace. It is right next door to the beautiful Changdeokgung. I always enjoy being places where it's not a tourist packed attraction. There was not a single foreigner. I saw just 1 group of Korean tourists and the other people there were some seniors enjoying the park. And the prove that it is hardly visited, I was able to shoot some "wildlife" there. There were birds causally walking around and fishing their food and dragonflies and butterflies cris-crossed around me.

 

A palace like the other ones in the city, less renovated

but it adds to the authentic charm

 It has this western style glass greenhouse at the back of the garden

 And the wildlife :)

Korean sweet pancake - Hoddeok

After all the hard walk in the museum, this man has chosen the perfect spot to park his pancake truck. Actually, I noticed the queue before I could see what was the attraction. So I checked out what were written on the trucks then there was a queue of 10 persons. Yes again, for food, we, Asians, are ready to stand in queue under the sun. :) It was funny how everyone in the queue was standing but slightly bend on the left side to peek at the pancake making process. You see how fast the man is making the dough, put it in his special grill plates, flip sides, take out the cooked ones, serve them and do the cashier all at the same time. And the more you watch him, the more impatient you get to taste that pancake and you get so jealous of the people who just got theirs hot from the plates!

The pancake dough has completely risen during the cooking and it became this thin crispy and chewy (it's made of rice flour) crust with a filling of, I guess, cinnamon and brow sugar. We had some in Myeongdong last year and they were nothing close to this. The guy didn't lie on the signs on his truck saying "traditional hoddeok"!
It's always this kind of surprise encounters that I love the most in a trip. That's why I like to wander around places off the tourist route. That's when you get to see and taste the real thing! :) But it's also sad because even if I wanted, I could probably never eat this man's perfect pancake ever again.

Seoul's Times Squares

I have been offered this opportunity to visit Korea again. I have been invited to participate in a special event that will gather teachers and students of the Korean language from all over the world. As the events will be held in and around Seoul, I won't be able to move around the country as much I'd like to. There'll only be a day trip to Jeonju. I could never miss that beef soup!

So I will try to do stuffs I haven't done yet in Seoul like museums and other parts of the city that are more off the tourist's route. I have included in my plans a mountain hike and some biking along Hangang river but with the heat... I guess you have to come check back to see whether I would have mustered the courage... or not.

Today was a slow day as I arrived early in the morning. With the 10 hours flight, first thing on my list was a little hour at the jjimjilbang (korean bath/sauna). This time, I tried the Sealala in Yeongdeungpo next to the mega mall Times Squares. The facilites were okay but the big problem was it was filled with Chinese tourists who can not control their children running while shouting.... Okay, Sealala: done and to never do again.

I would have liked to check out the largest screen in the CGV cinema but the chimps just q
started this week so abandonned. Change plans to find some energy refill.
 

 Tonkatsu ramen

Then that left me nothing else but shopping in this mega mall. The mall has also a Shinsegae department store attached to one side and a small garden on the 6th floor rooftop. I feel like they wanted to create a high class mall but the crowd I saw while I was there (a weekday) were not the clients they expected. There is also an underground market in the subway station where it was much more crowded. I guess the prices are much more adapted to the people who lives in the neighborhood.

Last coffee

After dinner, we finally decided to test one more place before we leave. Also right at the corner of Sophia's, there's this cute little coffee place named "Egg". They serve hand drip coffee, tea, and also wine and waffles.